Jim Gavin was told before he became the Fianna Fáil candidate for the presidency that any disputes with former tenants would come to light, but he repeatedly told the party he had no recollection of any issue, according to an internal review of the doomed campaign.
The report – which has recently been circulated to Fianna Fáil TDs – does not appear to contain any previously unknown “smoking gun” about the party’s disastrous presidential campaign, though TDs may be annoyed that Mr Gavin’s candidacy was being considered by the party leadership for months before they found out.
However, the report makes clear that many potential candidates were in the mix over the summer period.
Fianna Fáil’s review team found that there is no appropriate framework for selecting the party’s candidate, saying that this has resulted in a situation where “potential nominees seek out the patronage of senior figures within the party”. The lack of a framework meant that people interested in seeking the candidacy were “placed at a disadvantage” – including former senior and serving parliamentary party members – by not being able to declare their candidacy until September.
RM Block
Taoiseach and party leader Micheál Martin faced sharp criticism at a meeting of his parliamentary party on Tuesday evening, with rumours of a motion of no-confidence circulating at Leinster House and some TDs suggesting that party rebels were already seeking signatures for a motion of no confidence.
The mood of the meeting was described by one person present as “tense” while another said there was “a lot of anger”. Mr Martin was said to be “defensive” but also challenging and pushing back on points made by some of the contributors. According to sources, Fianna Fáil TD Pat the Cope Gallagher is said to have made a “passionate” contribution with a source saying he told the meeting “this is not over tonight”.
The report finds that Mr Gavin was asked about a reference to a dispute with a tenant on September 5th and 8th after contacts from journalist Fionnán Sheahan of the Irish Independent to Deirdre Gillane, Micheál Martin’s top adviser, on September 5th (to Gillane) and September 8th (to the Fianna Fáil press office). Mr Gavin said when asked about these contacts that his recollection was of no issue with any tenant. The report bluntly states ‘nothing further was done’ following this.
However, the report does not say Mr Martin or his chief of staff Ms Gillane were in possession of any detailed information about the dispute between Mr Gavin and his tenant before they sought support for his candidacy among Fianna Fáil TDs.
The report says Mr Gavin was subjected to a more intensive due diligence process than any previous candidate for the party in any election.
It outlines that the party’s general secretary Seán Dorgan, his deputy Darragh McShea and long-standing party adviser Peter MacDonagh Dorgan “undertook due diligence which they “believe was exhaustive,” including research, examination of public documents, media articles and meetings with Gavin – as well as warning him regarding the likelihood of intense scrutiny and the need to keep the party briefed.
It says the discussions with Gavin were “more detailed” due to his political inexperience and it was flagged to him that “any disgruntled tenant” would almost certainly go public. However, no polling was done on Mr Gavin before his nomination.
Ultimately, party officials accepted Mr Gavin’s assurances that he could not recall any disputes.
But once the existence of a dispute with the former tenant was revealed, and that Mr Gavin owed the man €3,300, Mr Martin and deputy leader Jack Chambers told him they were no longer in a position to ask the parliamentary party to continue its support for him.
Mr Gavin had been suggested to Mr Chambers as a possible candidate by the former Dublin footballer Keith Barr in early June and he was approached soon afterwards, meeting with Mr Chambers later that month. After a series of discussions, including with Mr Martin on July 21st, he confirmed his interest in being the party’s candidate to party general secretary Seán Dorgan on August 1st.
However, this information was kept quiet by the party leadership, as they did not want Gavin’s candidacy to become public during the August silly season.
Without a framework for a nomination, the party received expressions of interest “from various sources ... at different times and in different ways”. It says that in addition to party members expressing an interest, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and ex-cabinet minister Mary Hanafin were “fairly openly” canvassing support.
However, MEP Barry Andrews, despite being the focus of much speculation indicated in “early course” that he had no interest. Mr Ahern contacted party general secretary Sean Dorgan in April of this year, but didn’t get a “definitive response” to his request for support from Martin, before learning through the media that he wouldn’t get leadership support.
The report also reveals that MEP Billy Kelleher urged Mr Martin to stand for the presidency in mid-August in a text message to Ms Gillane, in which he said it was “unimportant to me” as he was now in Brussels. This was just five days before Mr Kelleher requested a special parliamentary party meeting to consider the issue.
Shortly afterwards, in a telephone call between the two men, Mr Kelleher indicated to Mr Martin he would not seek the nomination if Mr Martin had a preferred candidate, though the two men agreed to discuss the issue again. However, Mr Kelleher would go on to change his mind and declared his candidacy after Mr Martin and Mr Chambers had begun contacting members of the parliamentary party to seek support for Mr Gavin.
The report says the party was not given details about the tenant dispute and the €3,300 owed to the tenant until October 2nd. The party again put the allegations to Mr Gavin, who again said he had no recollection of any dispute or money owing. The party issued a statement in response to the questions. The following day, seeing the party’s denials on Mr Gavin’s behalf, the tenant – Sunday World deputy editor Niall Donald – contacted Fianna Fáil.
A Fianna Fáil press officer who was travelling with Gavin took the call, and on hearing the tenant’s name for the first time, Gavin “appears to recognise” it – undertaking to make additional inquiries. “It is evident that the matter is very serious”. Mr Gavin reviewed his records and accepts he received at least some of the payments in question – followed by a meeting with Chambers, Dorgan and Gavin in party headquarters that evening.
The following day, after a debate on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Chambers and Martin tell Gavin they’re not in a position to recommend the party continue to support Gavin. The candidate returns to party HQ that evening, is helped to draft a statement, and withdraws from the race
The report says the botched campaign will cost the party between €350,000 and €400,000.
The report makes a number of recommendations about how presidential candidates should be selected in future, pointing to the absence of any formal rules currently in existence. There is not, it says, and has never been a procedure by which a person can seek to be the Fianna Fáil candidate.
It says the new rules should be drawn up by an internal rules committee and adopted by an ardfheis. It stresses adequate time should be set aside for the process to take place in advance of a presidential election. It says the process as carried out this year placed some potential candidates at a disadvantage because they could not officially declare their candidacy until September 2nd.
The report will be discussed at what is expected to be a stormy Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting at Leinster House on Tuesday evening.
Mr Gavin has been contacted for comment.
